Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1887-10-08
Absent.MindedP People who leave their
Valuables on the Counter.


yaluables ON the Counter.
INCIDENTS OBSERVED BIZ A STAR REPoRrER-A TALK
WITH THE TELEGRAPH cLERK-How WOMEN WRITE
Observation-Disclosures FOR THE STREET URCHINS,
ETC.
A man. pale and out Of breath, rushed into the
telegraph Office the other day. He cast his eye
hurrtedly over the row OF shelving at which peo-
pie stand to write dispatches, and suddenly
bounded forward and seized upon a sealed enyel-
ope that was lying among the pile of "blanks, !"
broken pens and dry ink-bottles. His hands trem-
bled and he hesitated to open It. AZ he tore on
the end the crisp green edges of package OF
Treasury notes were visible. He explained to the
receiving clerk that there was $3.50 In the enveL
ope and he had left it on the shelf more than two
hours before. It had lain there in reach of two
dozen bootblacks and newsboys, and people COM
ing In 10 send on dispatches had picked It up or
brushed it aside. Some had scrubbed on 1t and
some had twirled 1t In their fingers while talking
and put 1t down agaip without ever discovering.
WHAT THs CLERK SAID.
at is common thing" said one of the clerks to
STAR reporter. "for people to loose things In
telegraph ONCE. 1t seems to be the most natural
thing in the world for them to put things
down and go out. There Is no telling how many
tnings are lost here every day. People are always
ag iinst ever finding anything that is LEFT.
But 1t Is queer how many things lie about
ana are nay ynsSS epg tSs ad
Nearly every sort of thing you can imagine
anyone carrying in their hands in the street Is
and. OF course, cannot be expected to see
$ carried
and packages, and a variety Of LITTLE parcels just
bought at some store, are left. Men lose pr1nc1-
ean Of ana private 'ae
to put things down and go OF without them. Peo-
pie are generally in hurry, and frequently greatly
they liable 10 forget everything but theif dis
patch They may be sending on an announce
ment OF death or serious sickness; they may De
trying TO save fortune or life by some word, or
they may be eager about some speculation Any
Of these things will make them nervous Some
people who are not in the habit Of using the wire
become excited at The mere idea OF sending dis.
patch, If 1t Is only TO announce their safe arrival
or intended departure. Then so few ordinary peo-
PIE KNOW now 10 write q dispatch that tney Will
spend half an hour trying to get message into
ten words, and will get so worked up that they are
Liable &c 80 OH and forget something.
THE wOMANs WAT.
"When woman comes into the ONCE she gener-
ally has parasoi, hand-satchel, pocket-book,
a card-case, a smell1ns-salts bottle, and small
parcel. Frequently she has pug dog and dude,
il she is anyways swell. She first deposits these
things on the desk. Then she pulls of glove
blanks and three pens she tries one pen after
the other. They all scratch and spiutter.
She tries all the pens on that side of the
room, and finds them all bad, and then She
goes over 10 the other. She finally gets the right
sort OF pen and writes dispatch, which she
she wants TO- She scratches out rlve OF the WORDS
and 1t don't mean anything. Then she writes IL
over, counting the WORDS The words are all right
this time, but the dispatch don't convey the idea
She unbuttonS her jacket and tries IL again. Then
she runs her fingers through her bangs, skewS her
bonnet on one SIDE ana jerks OF her glove Finally
She gets what she wants and ShOveS 1t through
the window, gathers up about half her goods and
PUSHES out, All In furry. Two hours later she
comes back after her fan,or glove or pocket-book.
SHE GOT her PoCKET-B0OK.
While he was speaking lady came In in great
hurry and picked up black pOcket-book, swelled
out with opulence, which had been lying all the
while in pile OF telegraph blanks at The STAR
mans elbow.
'There!" exclaimed the clerk. SIT has been an
hour since that lady sent Oil dispatch, and no
one saw thai. There's luck! Well they arn'r
always as fortunate. There are too many boot
say that she had left a very handsome smelling
bottle on the desk. But 1t WAS not there. Those
little street urchins pick up lots OF things here
They are always hanging around, looking through
the windows and taxing an inventory of the desks
NO one Can ever tell how much they ind, or how
much Is found by other people who come In to send
dispatches and are thrown in tempting contact
with abandoned property.
THE DUDE AND rHR DOGS.
speaking OF women, continued the clerk, sthe
Wife OF permanent statesman, who Is very
wealthy, and popular in society, comes in some
times with her hands full-card-case, parasol,
pocket-book, smelling bottle, fan, &c.-accompa-
MED by pug dog, poodle. spaniel and dude.
The dudes change nearly every time, but the dogs
are always the same. The dogs are put on the
floor while the lady writes her dispatch, and the
dude Is placed at the door TO see that they don't
get into the street. With his high collar his var
nished boots, wide trousers big stick and English
drawl, he stands spraddle-legyed al the door and
dives at the dogs as they try TO slip past him.
saw one dude exercise SO violently THIS way that
he was nearly exhausted, and slmperingly silly.
Finally he said: Ny dear Mrs =, can't you let
me write the dispatch. These pesky little bwoots
won't mind me at all, you know, But the lady
kept him at IL, until he had one dog in hts arms
and one on each side, with its teeth in trousers
leg